Box 9.11 Goal Setting and Community Participation Community participation in addressing social and environmental impacts and concerns has been mainstreamed to all aspects of EI sector management, impact assessment, and mitigation plans. Community and institutional capacity to enforce good practice are critical to success. EI sector projects can have significant environmental and social impacts that need to be identified, monitored, managed, and mitigated. A regulatory and or audited oversight approach is often needed. However, in countries with a large EI sector and effective capacity, an approach placing more responsibility on operators (those with a good track record working within agreed codes of conduct) may be equally effective and more practical. The key is to have an outcome-oriented approach to reducing and managing risks while maximizing development benefits. A well-designed environmental and social regime will do the following: 1. Have environmental standards and compliance criteria that are in line with good international practice, including the environmental and social requirements of international finance institutions, particularly the IFC performance standards 2. Give particular attention to monitoring and reporting arrangements, including public reporting of, and government verification of, company-reported environmental and social data Given that most of EI development impacts take place at the local level, a second key principle is that development should have broad-based community support and prior informed consent of the local population.
the position statement (ICMM 2013, 2015). This comprehensive guide highlights good practice principles and provides examples of how mining companies have addressed particular challenges. In addition to corporate policies there are reporting guidelines for companies such as the Global Reporting Initiative,54 which has reporting requirements for companies that operate in areas where there are indigenous peoples. Companies with express recognition of policies and initiatives to respect and promote the rights of indigenous peoples include BHP Billiton, Newmont, Rio Tinto, and Xstrata.
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A well-designed consultation and consent regime will do the following: 1. Specify regulatory requirements for a high degree of information disclosure and dissemination, notification, and consultation at the local level prior to decision-making points—for example, starting at the exploration stage and continuing through project life 2. Ensure very close collaboration and cooperation between the environmental and social authorities and EI sector ministries and agencies in view of the nature of the risks involved 3. Require full EIAs and SIAs or combined ESIAs including baseline assessments and associated ESMPs) to be prepared for all commercial-scale investments and submitted for verification and approval 4. Include separate consultations with women, youth, and other potentially vulnerable and disadvantaged groups and rather than limiting consultation to just the local male leaders and elite 5. Require that information be provided to local groups in a form that is readily accessible and understandable 6. Encourage company officials to develop trustbuilding relationships with leaders of a broad range of local community groups, to include effective grievance mechanisms 7. Give due consideration to cross-border and/or regional and global environmental protection issues 8. Provide direct support, and encourage others (such as donors) to provide support, to communities for capacity building so that communities can respond effectively in an informed manner to information received from companies
Land acquisition and resettlement. Resettlement or land displacement tends to be influenced by expectations about consultation with the affected communities and support for resettled people. International companies now subscribe to the IFC’s Performance Standard 5 on Land Acquisition and Involuntary Resettlement (IFC 2012a), which sets out an express framework for consultation, planning, implementation, and monitoring of resettlement, including income restoration. There may be international rules or standards that are relevant to resettlement of peoples that governments have to take note of. Individual companies may well develop tools, polices, and standards within their suite of global
